"Liver is warm, body is cold, internal heat and external cold, it is a condition of cold and heat. This illness is not serious, but the infant is weak and cannot be treated with medicine..."
Nan Shiying looked up and asked the woman, "Madam, are you still breastfeeding?"
The woman nodded, sobbing.
Nan Shiying was immediately relieved. She turned to Physician Zhou and cupped her hands, politely asking, "Physician Zhou, may I borrow a silver needle?"
Zhou Tianqing was finishing bandaging a patient. Hearing Nan Shiying's request, he was slightly taken aback. Then, he took out a roll of silver needles from his medicine box and handed it to Nan Shiying, "Young sir, there is no need for politeness. Please use it."
Nan Shiying chose the shortest needle from among the many, grasped the infant's ankle, and inserted the silver needle into the Feiyang acupuncture point on the Taiyang meridian of the foot, which is seven cun above the ankle joint. This was to supplement the deficiency of the Taiyin meridian of the hand, thereby balancing the yin and yang within the infant's body and dispelling the condition of cold and heat.
After inserting the needle, Nan Shiying twirled it, adjusted it to the optimal position, and then said to the woman, "Extend your hand."
Although the woman did not understand, she still extended her hand. Nan Shiying placed her hand on the woman's wrist, felt her pulse, and after a moment of deliberation, looked up at the Poison Old Man and said, "This woman has a cold condition internally. If the medicine is to enter her mouth first and then be fed to the infant through breast milk, several herbs may need to be changed."
The Poison Old Man nodded, with a hint of scrutiny in his eyes, and asked, "Which herbs should be changed, and what should they be replaced with?"
"Licorice root should be replaced with Angelica dahurica, ginseng is too nourishing, it needs to be replaced with Astragalus membranaceus, and rhubarb should be replaced with prepared Aconitum carmichaelii. The rest are inconvenient."
Although Physician Zhou was treating patients, he had been listening intently. When he learned that the mother had a cold condition internally, he had been contemplating what medicinal formula to use and which herbs to change. The most troublesome aspect of treating infants was the use of medicine. If medicine was administered through the mother's body and then fed to the infant through breast milk, he felt that Fuzi Xixin Decoction would be best, but the other party intended to use Huanglian Tang?
He initially felt it was inappropriate, but when he considered the substituted Chinese herbs in the formula, he suddenly felt enlightened, and for a moment, he thought it was brilliant.
"Brilliant, brilliant! The boldness of the prescription and the precision of the medication are simply astounding. Young sir, I am impressed."
Before the Poison Old Man could speak, Physician Zhou couldn't help but exclaim. He felt the excitement of glimpsing the path forward and the regret of being inferior.
He couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Truly worthy of being the Poison Old Man's esteemed disciple.
The Poison Old Man also felt a sense of emotion, but his face showed no hint of it. He glared at Physician Zhou and reprimanded him with a stern face, "What's so brilliant? Where is Pinellia? Can this herb be left out? Once this herb is added, the medicinal effect will be halved immediately. What have you been doing all these years? Have you returned all the medical skills you learned back to society after living too comfortably?"
"And you, you said if I can't see it, no one else can. Hmph, you're just an empty vessel rattling around. You should continue to learn from me humbly!"
Both Nan Shiying and Physician Zhou were thoroughly reprimanded. The difference was that Physician Zhou hunched his neck and dared not retort, while Nan Shiying couldn't help but interject, "I intended to halve the medicinal effect, after all, it is for an infant..."
"Talking back, you're still talking back! When medicine enters the mother's body, its effect is already greatly reduced. You want to halve it again, then what's the point of taking the medicine?"
Nan Shiying thought about it, and it seemed to be true. She had only considered that the infant was too weak to withstand an overpowering medicinal effect, overlooking the fact that the medicinal effect would naturally be reduced when it entered the mother's body.
She touched her nose and gave a bright smile.
The Poison Old Man glared at her and barked, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and prescribe the medicine for them."
Nan Shiying decided not to argue with the old man. She turned and borrowed paper and pen from Physician Zhou, wrote down the prescription, and handed it to the woman. She instructed, "Boil three bowls of the medicine into one bowl, and take it twice. After each dose, you must breastfeed within an hour. If this is done, the infant's cold and heat condition will disappear in about two to three days."
"Also, although the weather is getting cooler, you must not over-bundle her. Have you been keeping her covered with blankets? Don't do that anymore. As long as her palms and soles are warm, it means she does not need to be kept warm. Remember this."
"Yes, this commoner understands."
"Thank you, young sir. Thank you, young sir." The woman, holding the child, was about to kowtow.
Nan Shiying quickly held the woman to stop her from kowtowing and said to her, "Don't move around so much, the child still has a needle in her foot."
The woman immediately dared not move and could only express her gratitude.
After a while, Nan Shiying removed the silver needle, then gently massaged the infant's Feiyang acupuncture point, and finally sent the woman off to get the medicine.
Mu Xiaoxiao looked at Nan Shiying with admiration, finding him incredibly handsome and dashing when he was seriously diagnosing patients.
Xuan Yi felt like he didn't want to speak and wanted to treat Mu Xiaoxiao's eyes.
Seeing another highly skilled physician arrive, the disaster victims swarmed over. Some were sick, some were injured, and they were people who hadn't gotten a chance to be seen by other imperial physicians.
Mu Xiaoxiao skillfully restored order again, "Everyone, don't panic, don't be chaotic. Come one by one."
Nan Shiying, seeing this, gave up the idea of looking for an inn to rest. She turned to Xuan Yi and said, "Bring the medicine box from the carriage."
Xuan Yi received the order and turned to leave.
Nan Shiying no longer cared about cleanliness and sat down on the ground, beckoning the disaster victims to come for treatment.
"Auntie, there's nothing seriously wrong with your body, just excessive liver fire. Don't worry too much or get anxious. I'll prescribe you a medicinal decoction to clear the liver fire, and it will be fine after two doses."
After treating a few patients, an injured person arrived.
The wound on the inner side of his arm was deep enough to expose bone. It had not been cleaned for a long time, and it was already infected. Nan Shiying frowned. She asked Mu Xiaoxiao to fetch clean water to wash the patient's wound. Then, she heated tweezers with fire and cleaned the debris and wood splinters from the wound, asking with suppressed anger, "Has no one treated you during these days?"
The man was stunned. He scratched his head with his other hand and gave a simple, honest laugh, "How could that be? Physician Zhou and the others had already bandaged my wound, but they needed people at the dam. I have strength, so I went to help fill the dam. The cloth used to bandage my wound got wet from the water, and I didn't pay attention. By the afternoon, it hurt badly. When I opened it, I found the wound was festering, but I was still moving sand at the time, so I didn't deal with it. By the time I got back, it was already dark, so I thought I'd endure it for one night and ask the imperial physicians to treat it for me tomorrow. But this morning, the old woman next door suddenly had a stomachache, so I took her to see the doctor first. I covered my wound with my sleeve, and Physician Li didn't notice the wound on my arm. Seeing so many patients, I didn't say anything. As it happened, I was hungry, so I went to the dam first, hehe, they provide food there."
Mu Xiaoxiao couldn't help but glance at the man.
Given how severe the wound on his arm was, how could he endure it and remain so optimistic?